The Paiwan People and a “Human Zoo”

One of the most notable issues of contention that will be described in this paper is NHK’s use of the term “human zoo” [ningen doubutsuen]. The term was used to describe the display of a mock Formosan aboriginal village at the

Japan-301 “TAIWANESE & JAPANESE; TRAMPLED UNDER FOOT BY JAPAN BROADCASTING” Accessed December 13, 2010. http://loader.offmatrix.net/nhk/src/up_032.pdf.

302 As before, the book mentioned is:若林正丈編『もっと知りたい台湾』1998. 弘文堂.

British Exhibition of 1910. The documentary stated that Japan was mimicking the British and French practice of putting colonized people on display in what were called “human zoos.”

[ Figure 9 The Paiwanese Villagers in 1910 ] The use of this terminology angered some within the assertive

conservative right, who saw it as an unfair comparison between the Japanese empire and European empires. Producing Japanese government documents from the time, they argued that the exhibition was meant to display the proud cultural heritage of the Japanese Empire. By stating that Japan was placing the aboriginal people in a zoo-like setting, NHK was accused of dehumanizing the aboriginals and portraying Japan as racist.³⁰³

Channel Sakura reporters were dispatched to Taiwan, where they made contact with members of the Paiwan tribe and explained the complaints against NHK. Representatives of the Paiwan ethnicity disagreed with the use of “human zoo” on the grounds that it made their traditional culture look animal-like,

303 “1/4【台湾取材レポート】パイワン族の真実－前編[桜H21/6/18] ”.日本文化チャンネル桜(2009年6月18日).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vOzE8F6eCE.

subhuman, and inferior. Displaying their lifestyle and customs at the exhibition was something for which they felt ethnic pride.

Several members of the tribe were interviewed, including one very aged woman – Kao Hsu Yueh-mei - who had appeared in the NHK documentary and commented on how it was “sad” [kanashii] to see a photograph of her father at the 1910 Exhibition. The interviews were conducted in Japanese, and despite some apparent communication difficulties, Channel Sakura’s reporters concluded that the woman had really meant to say that she felt “nostalgic” [natsukashii]

when she saw the photograph.³⁰⁴ Other members of the Paiwan tribe claimed that NHK had never used the term “human zoo” when conducting interviews about the Exhibition, and the tribe regarded those who had traveled to London in 1910 as heroes. To the Paiwan people who joined the protest movement, NHK’s depiction of their ancestors as subjects put on display like animals was an insult to the honor of their people.

NHK’s June 17 response included a short explanation on why it used the term “human zoo.” It argued that the term had been used in Europe at that time to describe displays of “savage” or “uncivilized” people by a “civilizing” colonial power, and that Japan’s display of the Paiwan people was modeled after such displays. To support its claim that the exhibition was modeled after the practices of Western colonial powers, NHK quoted from the prospectus of a 1903

exhibition in Osaka of Taiwanese and Ainu tribes. The prospectus stated in no uncertain terms that the event was based on displays put on by the “civilized

304 “【NHKの大罪】これがＮＨＫ流の「真実の報道」なのか？[桜H21/6/20]”.日本文化チャンネル桜(2009年6月20日).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Cg0362rZM.

western nations” [oubei no bunmei koku]. NHK also included a quote from a Japanese newspaper article from 1910 that compared the Formosan village display to a zoo.³⁰⁵

After the June 17 response, protesters, including some of the Paiwan people, continued to loudly denounce NHK over the “human zoo” issue. They argued against NHK’s response by claiming there was no evidence that the term

“human zoo” was ever used at that time, even in Europe. To question the claim that the London exhibition was meant to be a “human zoo,” protesters pointed to the presence of a similar display at the exhibition that included ethnic Japanese people working in a mock farming village.

To counter what it considered to be “slander” [hibo chusho] and

“fabrication” [waikyoku],NHK posted a second official announcement on its website on July 22, 2010. The supplementary explanation, which was nearly as long as the first explanation that NHK has posted, dealt only with the issue of the Paiwan people and the use of the “human zoo” dispute.

NHK’s second explanation traced the origins of the term “human zoo”

back to 19^thcentury Germany and France. NHK noted that a zoo in Paris was turned into a display area of tribespeople in the 1870’s. Records show the German term “anthropologisch-zoologische,” the French term “exposition anthropozoologique,” and the English term “anthropozoological exhibition“ were used at that time to refer to anthropological displays of colonized tribespeople, and NHK felt it was justified in translating those terms into “human zoo” in

305「シリーズ・JAPANデビュー 第1回「アジアの"一等国"」に関しての説明」

<http://www.nhk.or.jp/japan/announce/090617.html>（2010/12/01アクセス）

Japanese. As an example of its use in the Japanese language, NHK pointed to a book by Tokyo University Professor Yoshimi Shunya.³⁰⁶

NHK also provided a lengthier restatement of its argument that the exhibition was indeed based on similar European exhibitions. It added further information backing up its position about the 1903 Osaka exhibition, as well as quotations from that era of a Diet member who felt it had been demeaning to put fellow humans on display, and a journalist who compared the London display to a zoo. The explanation stated that the opinions of the people put on display do not change the overall nature of the display. NHK also argued that the mock

Japanese farming village’s demonstrations of agriculture techniques were not comparable to the Formosan village display.³⁰⁷

On the issue of sadness vs. nostalgia, NHK expressed confidence that it had not misrepresented the opinions of the elderly Taiwanese woman. It provided an analysis of the Paiwan language that concluded that there were circumstances in which one word could express either sadness or nostalgia, but based on the context of conversations that had not been included in the final cut of the documentary, NHK’s team concluded that the woman had been trying to tell them that she was sad. NHK stated that its staff had not used the term

“human zoo” when speaking with the woman, but it was believed that they had

306 The book mentioned is:吉見俊哉『博覧会の政治学 まなざしの近代』1992年。中公公論新社。 東京。

307「シリーズ・JAPANデビュー 第1回「アジアの"一等国"」に関しての説明・追加」

<http://www.nhk.or.jp/japan/announce/090722.html>（2010/12/01アクセス）

adequately explained the 1910 exhibition before asking her opinion about the photograph.³⁰⁸

The July explanation from NHK provided additional information about the reasoning behind NHK’s decision to use certain terminology, but it did not change the mind of many protesters. These protesters, including several Paiwanese people, continued to use the “human zoo” issue as one of the centerpieces of their attack on NHK.